Black Artists Shaping the World

by Sharna Jackson, Zoé Whitley (With)

Dedicated to the work of contemporary Black artists from around the world, this book is an exuberant introduction to artists from Africa and of African descent for young readers. Written by award-winning Black children’s author Sharna Jackson, this engaging book introduces young readers to twenty-six contemporary artists from Africa and of the African diaspora, working in everything from painting, sculpture, and drawing to ceramics, installation art, and sound art. These include prominent American artists Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, portraitist to Michelle Obama Amy Sherald, and Kehinde Wiley; British Turner Prize–winning painters Lubaina Himid and Chris Ofili; renowned South African visual activist and photographer Zanele Muholi; Nigerian sound artist Emeka Ogboh; Sudanese painter Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq; Kenyan-British ceramicist Magdalene Odundo; Afrofuturist-inspired performance artist Harold Offeh; and moving image artist Larry Achiampong, among others. Sharna Jackson’s experience as an award-winning children’s author combined with the curatorial expertise of Dr. Zoe´ Whitley, co-curator of the groundbreaking exhibition “Soul of a Art in the Age of Black Power,” make this an essential introduction to Black artists working today. This volume will serve as revelation to a new generation of aspiring young artists. Illustrated in color throughout

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Childrens, Biography, Art Design

144 pages, Hardcover

Published November 23, 2021

About the author

Sharna Jackson is a best-selling author and curator who specialises in developing and delivering socially-engaged initiatives for children and young people across culture, publishing and entertainment.

Her debut novel High-Rise Mystery (2019) won numerous awards and accolades including Best Book for Younger Readers at the 2020 Waterstones Book Prize and Sunday Times Book of the Week. The sequel, Mic Drop, was released in 2020. Sharna also develops books to encourage participation in the arts, with two activity books released with Tate in 2014 (which won the FILAF award for Best Children’s Art Book in 2015) and Black Artists Shaping the World in 2021. She was Southbank Centre’s Imagine A Story Author in 2019/20 creating London/Londoff with over 1200 school children in the capital.

She was recently the Artistic Director at Site Gallery, an international contemporary art space in Sheffield, UK, and was formerly the editor of the triple BAFTA-nominated Tate Kids website.

Sharna was a member of BAFTA’s Children’s and Learning and New Talent committees and the Children’s Media Conference advisory board. She was also on the board of Sheffield Doc/Fest, New Writing North and Upswing. Every year she curates Playground – an exhibition showcasing work that blends digital play with physical objects and Ensemble – a show highlighting ethnic minority talent and achievement in the UK games industry.

Reviews

[E L K Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say read this book for sure, it gives a very short but very important overview of pivotal black artists from many corners of the world.

Personally, I would love to see more information, the book is very much heavily laying on the design over information (a very beautifully done design and typography). But I still learned a lot about artists I haven't heard of before and I think this book is an important read for any art fan, perfect for someone who wants light reading while learning something new over long and tedious art books :)

[Tabish Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to a range of black artists across the world who are creating important and powerful artworks. It's been classed as being aimed at older children but it's also a useful reference for adults who want to know about contemporary black artists from across the world.

As someone who writes about art a lot of these artists are familiar to me but I also made some new discoveries from reading this book. It can't possibly cover all the important black artists operating today but it has a diverse spread of artists creating different styles of work.

As it's an overview of each artist it can't go into too much detail about each artist's practice but is a good launching pad for the reader to do their own research.

As it's written with children in mind there's thankfully no art jargon and this makes it a very accessible book.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid introduction for young people, and anyone wanting a basic introduction to contemporary and modern Black artists from around the world.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where have you been all my life?? Just stellar in every aspect.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of this fine volume introduces us to a couple dozen black artists and the original artwork they are creating. There are a few pages of information about each artist in easy to read print, plus at least one example of their art. It includes work by Joana Choumali who walks around the city of Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire in the early hours every morning taking pictures, and then later in her home, prints the pictures on canvas and adds layers of fabric to recreate the light and fog she saw. Also in this colorful book is the work of Toyin Ojih Odutola who does her art work almost exclusively with a ballpoint pen, and Zizipho Poswa who is a South African ceramist. I especially enjoyed placing the names of some of these artists into google and there finding many more examples of their impressive and varied work. This is a great source of information about important artists working in the world today.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book containing introductions to a limited number of talented Black artists doing their thing, some I know of, others I'm now pleased to say they're on my radar.

The book is so beautifully designed, feels really well produced and is such an attractive piece of work in and of itself. I can't wait to delve into my own further research on the artists that most appeal to me.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stellar introduction to a wide variety of Black artists who are creating influential works around the world. This text is highly accessible, and readers are sure to find someone, if not several artists who they will want to research further. This book is a gem.

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I miss the art world as my mom was a painter and also a retired art teacher. This was a great book without the flowery fine arts language and easy for kids and young adults to read. I enjoyed reading about the portrait painter, Amy Sherald that painted Michelle Obama.

[Kelly Dienes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully presented introduction to some inspirational black artists. I personally wish the bios were more thorough, but this is a children's book, so taking that into account I give it 5 stars!

[fatu · Rating 5 out of 5]

é um livro muito bonito que transparece um pouco da essência de incríveis artistas e as suas motivações

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to contemporary black artists from around the world.

[Kate Meberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book is written with middle grade readers in mind, I think any adult who is an art history enthusiast should check this book out. Nicely done.

[Y.Poston]

what an around-the-world journey of black artists
definitely inspiring!

[Stacey Walden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book with great bio information about these influential artists. I wish there were more photos of the artists work but I appreciate the design style of the book.

[Twinkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Introducing so many different Black artists and their work.

[Quietly Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant selection of inspirational black artists; includes one of my favorite mixed media and symbolic artists: Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful introduction to these inspiring artists. Highly Recommended.